Puckworld

Alex Biega celebrates his first career NHL goal last season, scoring for the Vancouver Canucks against the visiting Minnesota Wild at Rogers Arena. (Darryl Dyck, Canadian Press)

Not to be outdone by the NHL’s big boys in trade-happy Calgary, Boston and San Jose, the Vancouver Canucks made a move of their own on the eve of Canada Day — aka Free Agency Day — re-signing (wait for it …) Alex Biega.
The 27-year-old blue-liner spent much of last season with the AHL’s Utica Comets, where he helped the team to the Calder Cup final. In 62 regular season games, Biega had 19 ... Read More …

Ryan Miller is staying and either Eddie Lack or Jacob Markstrom will be traded.
Canucks general manager Jim Benning made that point Wednesday afternoon in an interview with TSN 1040.
Benning dismissed any notion that he might try to move Miller.
“I want to keep an older experienced goalie and Ryan is that guy,” Benning said. “Then we are going to decide on either Lack or Markstrom. I don’t feel comfortable going into the season ... Read More …

The B.C. Hockey League is expanding south of the border.
The BCHL announced Monday that the Wenatchee Wild will join the junior A hockey league next season and become its 17th franchise.
“The BCHL is gaining a strong franchise in the Wenatchee Wild and we value the passion and professionalism they bring to our league,” BCHL commissioner John Grisdale said in a press release. “The Wild will quickly develop rivalries with our existing franchises and ... Read More …

You could be forgiven for thinking of this fall's Young Stars Classic in Penticton as the Connor McDavid Show. Here the expected No. 1 overall draft pick of the Edmonton Oilers hoists the world junior hockey championship trophy for Team Canada last January. (Frank Gunn, Canadian Press)

It’s officially still called the Young Stars Classic, but this year’s edition just might turn into the Connor McDavid show.
The Vancouver Canucks announced Thursday that the annual event will return to the South Okanagan Events Centre in Penticton for the fifth time. The tourney, which features the prospects of the Canucks, Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames and Winnipeg Jets, goes Sept. 11-14.
And if McDavid — certain to be selected first overall by the Oilers ... Read More …

Prince George's CN Centre, home of the WHL's Prince George Cougars. (cncentre.ca)

The Vancouver Canucks confirmed today that Prince George will host the National Hockey League team’s training camp over three days in mid-September.
“This is the first time the Vancouver Canucks will host training camp in northern British Columbia and the great city of Prince George,” Canucks president Trevor Linden said in a statement. “We are fortunate to have the passionate support of fans around the province and are committed to holding future training camps in ... Read More …

Prince George's CN Centre, home of the WHL's Prince George Cougars. (cncentre.ca)

The Canucks are expected to announce Wednesday morning that their September training camp will be held at the CN Centre in Prince George.
Trevor Linden, the team’s president of hockey operations, is scheduled to appear at a Prince George news conference at 10:30 am.
The Canucks held last year’s camp in Whistler and in their history have scheduled camps in several B.C. cities. This would their first training camp in northern B.C.
The CN Centre ... Read More …

Canucks prospect Jake Virtanen made his pro debut Monday night as the Utica Comets dropped a 2-1 decision to the Oklahoma City Barons.
That forces a seventh and deciding game in their AHL Western Conference semi-final series.
Virtanen, the sixth overall pick in last summer’s draft, was inserted into the Utica lineup after winger Carter Bancks was injured.
He played on a line with Hunter Shinkaruk and Mike Zalewski. Virtanen had two shots on goal ... Read More …

Mackenze Stewart’s story is going to get even more interesting.
The Vancouver Canucks signed Stewart to an entry-level contract Tuesday and general manager Jim Benning said the team hopes to turn the 6-foot-4, 216-pound defenceman into a winger.
“We drafted him as a defenceman,” Benning said. “This year, he played some wing and some defence. I think what we are going to try and do is develop him as a winger. He is a real ... Read More …

The Utica Comets are off to the second round of the American Hockey League playoffs and Vancouver Canucks prospects Jake Virtanen and Jared McCann are joining them for the remainder of their post-season ride.
The two 18-year-olds, both first-round picks of the Canucks last summer, are heading to Utica on Monday.
Virtanen, the Abbotsford native whose WHL season ended on Friday night when his Calgary Hitmen were eliminated in five games by the Brandon Wheat ... Read More …

Canuck head coach Willie Desjardins knows who will start in goal Thursday night when his team faces playoff elimination, he just isn’t saying. But Desjardins did admit Wednesday that Alex Burrows is out for the series and that Utica Comets callup Sven Baertschi, a former Calgary Flame, will almost certainly be in the lineup for Game 5 of the best-of-seven series. The Flames lead it 3-1 after sweeping their home dates by scores of 4-2 ... Read More …

Vancouver Canucks Alex Burrows suffered an unknown injury during the team’s morning skate in Calgary and was carried out of the Saddledome on a stretcher.
The Canucks have announced that the 34-year-old winger “sustained an upper body injury and was taken to hospital after practice this morning for precautionary reasons. Will not play tonight.”
Vancouver Sun reporter Brad Ziemer Tweeted the news.
Burrows leaves optional skate early, looking uncomfortable. Doctors followed him. #Canucks
— Brad ... Read More …

There is choking in sports and then there is being choked, which Vancouver Canuck goalie Eddie Lack explained happened to him Friday in Vancouver’s 4-1 playoff win over the Calgary Flames.
Flames winger Brandon Bollig managed to land on top of Lack during a second period skirmish and he didn’t get up quickly enough to Lack’s liking. The Canuck netminder responded with a few blocker punches to Bollig’s kidney area.
“I kind of lost it ... Read More …

The Vancouver Canucks have sewn up home-ice advantage for the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs without getting off the couch.
The Calgary Flames, their first-round opponent, needed a win against the Winnipeg Jets in a matinee Saturday to even challenge the Canucks for second place in the Pacific Division. That would have forced the Canucks to either beat the Edmonton Oilers in their finale tonight, or at least get the game to overtime.... Read More …

Vancouver Canucks winger Derek Dorsett (left) trades shots with the Minnesota Wild’s Ryan Carter during a February NHL game at Rogers Arena. (Jonathan Hayward, Canadian Press)

The Vancouver Canucks locked up a pair of veteran players today, signing winger Derek Dorsett and defenceman Luca Sbisa to contract extensions.
The 28-year-old Dorsett, who has added toughness to the Canucks’ lineup, has more than twice as many penalty minutes (169) as the next Canuck and is second in the NHL in fighting majors (17), has signed a four-year extension through the 2018-19 NHL season, while Sbisa has agreed to a three-year deal through ... Read More …

After the one year John Tortorella reign of error, the Canucks are back in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
They booked their ticket to the playoff tournament without lifting a finger Tuesday when the Edmonton Oilers, of all teams, knocked off the defending champion L.A. Kings 4-2. The result means the Kings cannot finish higher than the Canucks even if they win their final two games and Vancouver loses it final two. The teams would then ... Read More …

Winnipeg Jet Dustin Byfuglien’s due for some NHL justice, while the Vancouver Canucks’ Alex Burrows reportedly isn’t.
The league will hold a hearing into the Jet’s cross-check to the back of the neck on New York Ranger J.T. Miller during Tuesday night’s 3-2 Rangers win.
Meanwhile, Burrows — who was given a major penalty and game misconduct for colliding with the Nashville Predators’ Paul Gaustad late in Tuesday night’s 5-4 Canucks win — won’t be ... Read More …

The Canucks locked up a younger member of their core Tuesday as they announced that defenceman Chris Tanev has signed a five-year contract extension worth $22.25 million, or a cap hit of $4.45 million per season.
Tanev, 25, plays a shutdown role on the Canucks’ first pairing alongside Alex Edler and is a key part of the league’s third-best penalty killing unit. He will rank fourth on the payroll among defencemen behind the cap hits ... Read More …

Pat Quinn waves to the crowd prior to last year’s Vancouver Canucks-Ottawa Senators NHL Heritage Classic game at BC Place Stadium, played March 2, 2014. (Arlen Redekop, PNG)

Tuesday in Vancouver will be St. Patrick’s Day in more ways than one, as the Vancouver Canucks celebrate the life and legacy of the late Pat Quinn at Rogers Arena, prior to the NHL game between the Canucks and the visiting Philadelphia Flyers.
While the Canucks are asking fans to be seated by 6:45 p.m. for a ceremony prior to puck drop, there will be plenty going on at and around the arena in the ... Read More …

Canucks GM Jim Benning talks about 20-year-old defenceman Ashton Sautner, captain of the WHL’s Edmonton Oil Kings, on his signing announced prior to the Canuck-Leaf game: “We talked about Ashton last year when we were preparing for the draft. We thought he’d be a good draft pick but it never worked out and there were some other guys we liked and stuff. After the draft, we talked to him about coming to our development camp ... Read More …